


Marked

by riaxren



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alt title why is everyone being so polite to Rey, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben is a gang leader, F/M, Rey is a very naive and innocent roommate, Rose is sick of everyones nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25261735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riaxren/pseuds/riaxren
Summary: Rose gasps, “you’re not even going to tell her, are you?! You’re just going to let her walk around, marked as Kylo Ren’s… wife or something… none the wiser to why people are pissing their pants at the sight of her!”He hadn’t even given thought to whether he would explain the meaning for the random gift, or why he was giving it to her. “It’s better if she doesn’t know the finer details”, Ben mumbles.“Don’t you think it’s more than a little patronising to treat Rey like she’s a poor helpless little lamb?”“Can you just do as I ask… please?” he whispers.A low groan is audible from Rose’s end of the line and her next string of words is almost incoherent. “Let it be on the record that I’m warning you that this is a terrible idea”.---Kylo Ren is the leader of most notorious gang on the east coast: the Knights of Ren.To render her untouchable, he gives a KOR jacket to his oblivious roommate and crush that marks her as the revered leader's wife.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 16
Kudos: 116





	Marked

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!
> 
> I haven't written properly since high school but here we are giving it a go. This a relatively short one and I tried to keep it quite lighthearted.
> 
> I hugely appreciate feedback!
> 
> This is a modern AU idea from @adambsolodriver on Twitter, and hugely spurred on/inspired by @galacticidiots and her unbelievably great ideas.

Ben’s eyes flick to the clock on the dark blue wall of his open kitchen living room.

22 minutes past midnight.

Which means it’s only been 4 minutes since last he checked.

He lets out a low growl from the back of his throat and continues anxiously tapping his fist against his thigh. He’s being ridiculous and he knows it but that doesn’t stop the treacherous little voice in the back of his head that tells him something has happened to Rey.

Ben shoves his hands into the edges of the couch and already has one arm in the sleeve of his leather jacket when Rey crashes through the front door.

“Hey! Ben you’re- “, she starts to pant before he grabs her wrist and tugs her into his chest, hugging her so tight that all the breath escapes her.

“Oh- this is nice, I guess”, she gasps as he squeezes her a little closer, “but so is oxygen!”.

Ben slides back away from her, nervously running his hands through his long waves.

“Where have you been, Rey?!” he hisses.

Rey blinks slowly at him, her hazel eyes searching his face as though trying to read his thoughts.

“Is something wrong?”, her voice is trepidatious.

He sighs loudly, dramatically. “It’s gone midni-“.

“What are you, my mother?!”, she laughs over him in a high-pitched mocking voice, her grin so wide he can barely see her eyes.

Ben spins on his heel and hauls himself down the narrow passage back toward the living room. The couch creaks in protest as he drops his weight onto it.

He hears Rey kick off her shoes and her bright eyes appear round the doorway, an impish smirk on her face.

“Oi, grumpy bollocks” she sings. “You can’t be pissed at me, I bought you home a present”.

He raises one eyebrow at her questioningly and can’t help but flash her a small smile.

Rey bounces into the room with her hands behind her back and sinks onto the couch next to him, her thigh pressed against his. The sudden proximity makes him unexpectedly nervous.

She whips a bulging paper bag from behind her back and she’s grinning at him with crinkled eyes again.

“Candy?”, he says amused, as Rey shoves her gift into his hand.

“Yup!”, she hums, “I made Finn go to the movie theatre with me just to buy pick and mix, and I thought I’d bring you home your faves”.

Rey springs to her feet. “It’s all liquorice, you’re welcome, I know I’m the best there’s no need to say it”, she throws over her shoulder as she slides across the wooden floor in her socks, heading toward her bedroom. She spins on her toes when she gets to her door, her arms above her head like a clumsy ballerina, and takes a deep curtsy.

Ben can’t help but flash her a lopsided grin and it makes her stomach leap.

“Thanks, sweetheart. Where’s yours?”, he scrutinizes.

She begins to slowly edge her door shut.

“I’m sweet enough”, she sighs in an airy tone, continuing to push the door closed.

Just as she closes it Ben calls out, “meaning you ate it all on your walk home”.

From the other side of her door he hears a faint giggle.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Later that night, Ben is laying in his bed, glaring at his ceiling like it’s personally offended him. The window is thrown wide open, welcoming in a gentle breeze that ripples across his bare chest and through the loose strands of hair around his frowning face. The sound of an emergency siren wails somewhere far away.

Ben lets out a deep exhale through his long nose, contemplative.

Rey has been living with him now for a month, although somehow it feels like a lot longer. They have grown so settled within each other’s lives so easily.

He hasn’t strictly let her in on his little _secret_. Although it is less of a secret and more that Rey is oblivious to these things right in front of her face.

Ben is the leader of the most feared and respected gang on the east coast: The Knights of Ren.

He also has a _monumentally_ large crush on Rey.

Keeping his… friends - if that’s what Rey is – safe has never been a concern until now.

His closest are all ‘Knights’, as they call themselves. But as his feelings for Rey are growing, as is his instinct to want to protect her - his concern for her every time they are apart.

Ben rolls onto his side and squeezes his eyes tight shut. There must be something he can do to protect her and ease this new sense of _responsibility_ that he feels for her.

He could put one of the Knights on marking her. No… that seems like overkill doesn’t it? Isn’t that too far? He mulls the idea for a few minutes. Rey would surely notice a tail. He trusts the Knights with his life but none of them are exactly _conspicuous._

He could put a tracker on her phone?

Ben returns to laying on his back, his arms folded behind his head. “No, idiot, that’s creepy”, he whispers to himself.

What can be done?

Ben taps the backs of his fingers against the pillow next to his head, rummaging through the depths of his brain for any semblance of a _good_ idea.

This, he supposes, is why he isn’t in charge of the finer points of the gang’s plans.

Ben’s eyes flick open and he sits bolt upright.

Suppose he doesn’t strictly _need_ to have one of the Knights physically trailing her? Perhaps just the threat of them watching over her was enough? The Knights were infamous, admired, even abhorred by some. If people merely _thought_ that Rey was tied to them, they would leave her well alone, wouldn’t they?

He needs to send a clear message that she is protected, mark her as untouchable, signify somehow that she is not to be messed with.

Stretching a long arm over to his antique bedside cabinet, Ben grabs his phone. The city lights outside the window bounce off the sleek, blank screen as he contemplates sending a message to his right-hand woman. It _is_ 3 in the morning at this point. But if she’s not awake she can just reply in the morning, no big deal, right?

Slowly he taps out a message.

“Rose?”

Within seconds his phone is vibrating in his hand. Ben taps the screen a few more times and lifts it to his ear.

“Did I wake you?”, he flinches at the idea of an irate Rose.

“What’s wrong Ben?”, she says, trying to unsuccessfully stifle a yawn. He can hear her moving through her apartment. If she is at all worried about this late-night check in, she doesn’t show it.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just need…”, he almost whispers, “I need a favour”.

“This had better be life or death, _Benjamin_ ”, Rose warns venomously.

Ben fumbles his words, “it is, I mean- yes, it’s- erm- I need you to make another KOR jacket”. He braces.

“For who- wait a minute”, Ben flinches again, “ _are you shitting me?!”,_ she seethes, “have you seriously woken me up in the middle of the night for _this_?! I am going to slap the taste outta your mouth next I see- “.

Ben interjects. “No, no, Rose, it’s not like that. I need the jacket for…”, he stutters, “for Rey”.

There is silence on her end for what feels like hours.

“What are you scheming?”, she groans.

Ben resigns to keeping his explanation short and hoping to the stars that Rose just goes with this.

“Well, if she is seen wearing a KOR jacket and everyone thinks that she is affiliated, then she will be… _left alone_ ”, he states as simply as he can, “protected”.

There is silence for a long moment, and he swears he can _hear_ her rolling her eyes.

“Right… and does _Rey_ think she needs you to be her knight in shining armour? Pun intended”, she throws back curtly.

Ben stutters, “I- erm- well-“.

Rose gasps, “you’re not even going to tell her, are you?! You’re just going to let her walk around, marked as Kylo Ren’s… _wife or something…_ none the wiser to why people are pissing their pants at the sight of her!”

He hadn’t even given thought to whether he would explain the meaning for the gift, or why he was giving it to her. “It’s better if she doesn’t know the finer details”, he mumbles.

“Don’t you think it’s more than a little _patronising_ to treat Rey like she’s a poor helpless little lamb?” she laments.

“Can you just do as I ask… please?” he whispers.

A low groan is audible from Rose’s end of the line and her next string of words is almost incoherent. “Let it be on the record that I’m warning you that this is a _terrible_ idea”.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆  
  


“Holy shit Ben, it’s bad arse!’, Rey squeals, checking herself out in her bedroom mirror.

This jacket really is beautiful, she thinks to herself. She examines the silver stitching in the sleeve, glistening under the light of her desk lamp.

As her eyes drift up the stitching, they fall to the silvery symbol hand painted on the upper arm. Her fingers delicately brush over it, a perfect circle with 16 rays, like a sun, framed inside a hexagon. Realisation dawns on Rey and she whips round to face him.

“This same symbol is painted on that old jacket that you have!” she is grinning at him, wide eyed.

Unsure of what to say, he just shrugs at her.

Rey’s grin widens. “Aww Ben, did you get me a matching one? Are we official besties now?” She falters, then blushes and says in a teasing yet hesitant voice, “are people going to think I’m your _girlfriend_ now or something?”

Ben breaks into something between a hysterical laugh a cough, the tips of his ears are an alarming shade of scarlet, peeking out through his hair. Rey twirls back to look in the mirror.

“Thank you again, I can’t wait to show this bad boy off!”, she almost sings.

He nods once, whispers “you’re welcome Rey”, and shuffles out of her room.

When he is in the hallway and out of her view, he realises he has been holding his breath. For how long, he has no idea.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

On Monday morning Rey flies out of the front door on her way to work. She is proudly wearing her new fancy jacket and can’t help but notice there is a slight whiff of Ben about it. Had he sprayed his aftershave on it? The scent fills her nose and mouth and she is practically skipping down the street, euphoric, when a large man staring intently at his phone rounds a corner and slams into her.

The brute’s phone is knocked from his hand and clatters to the floor. He spews out a string of swear words as he crouches to pick it up and examines for any damage.

Rey scoffs, “oh yeah make sure your poor phone is okay, why don’t you look where you’re walking, you wanker?!”.

The stranger gets to his feet and puffs himself out to his fullest size. His chubby lips, framed by a dark wiry moustache, open as if to verbally retaliate but then his eyes dart to something over her shoulder. He takes a quick step backward as if Rey is holding a live grenade.

“I’m- I’m so so sorry- I wasn’t looking- wasn’t paying attent- are you hurt- shit, I didn’t realise- please don’t tell him!” he splutters out, and Rey thinks she can see tears brimming in his beady eyes.

She is absolutely dumbstruck. Is this guy taking the piss out of her?! Rey narrows her eyes in what she hopes is a threatening manner.

No. Not faking it.

This man is genuinely terrified for his life.

“What are you on about? Don’t tell who?” she demands, although the confusion in her voice is obvious.

Tears and snot are bubbling from every inch of his face now.

“Kylo Ren, miss, please I didn’t realise- didn’t know”, he blubbers hysterically.

This is weird. Rey wants away from this weirdness.

“Erm…” she hesitates, “don’t worry mate, I won’t tell anyone”.

The stranger nods enthusiastically and appreciatively through his wailing and scurries away from her. She stares after him, her mouth hanging open and her face bent up in confusion.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Rey can’t help but feel that people are giving her weird looks all that day, but by Thursday of that week she has all but forgotten the encounter with the strange man.

She sits at her favourite small, circular table in her and Finn’s favourite bar. He is looking her up and down, a very suspicious look in his eyes.

“You into motorbikes now?”, he asks.

Rey spares a look down at herself, at her jacket. “Ben gave it to me! How cool is it?”. She grins.

“Yeah, sure…”, he is glaring at the symbol adorned onto the sleeve, “you know, Rey-”, he begins as if to tell her something but then seems to decide against it, “-it’s your round”, he concludes.

She flips him the bird as she rises from the table. She likes the jacket; Finn could shove his opinion.

As Rey approaches the bustling bar, the bartender meets her gaze.

His eyes widen in shock.

Rey instinctively touches her face to check she doesn’t have any remnants of food there. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s spent half a day wearing Cheeto dust as blusher.

As she definitely decides she is all clear and that this guy is just having a bad day, he addresses her.

“Y-yes m’aam?” he asks.

“Just two beers please”, she offers him her politest, toothiest smile.

The bartender hurries off and is back surprisingly quick, so quick that it startles Rey.

“Oh! Thank you!” Rey chimes and holds a crisp note out to him.

He doesn’t immediately take it, so she holds it out a little closer.

He is sweating profusely, wringing his hands together.

This poor bastard, someone’s really got him jumpy today.

She offers him another reassuring smile.

“It’s on the house, Mrs Ren”, he wobbles, and scuttles to the opposite end of the bar to take someone else’s order.

“That was speedy”, Finn comments as she thumps the bottles down on the table.

Rey is staring at the bartender, who keeps whipping agitated glances in her direction.

“They… he gave them to me for free”, she responds absentmindedly. She has heard that name before, hadn’t she? ‘Ren’. But where?

Finn whistles an impressed tone. “He must have a thing for the leather”, he quips with a curious glint in his eye and a subtle smile to himself.

He taps his bottle against hers and takes a swig.

It isn’t long before her mind is elsewhere, distracted by Finn animatedly recounting his latest disaster date.

They laugh until Rey’s mascara is streaked around her eyes and her cheeks are aching.

Rey returns home just after 10pm, throwing her bag down by the front door. She pauses and listens for any trace of Ben and is greeted with various pitches of laughter coming from the front room.

Of course, Thursday. DnD night.

She pokes her head round the front room door and calls out “hey dungeoners!” to the group clustered around the dining room table. She is met with various choruses of “hi Rey!” from Poe, Rose and Hux.

Rey glides around the outside of the group, gently squeezing each of their shoulders by way of greeting. She carefully removes her jacket and folds it over the back of the empty chair next to Ben before sinking into it. She leans forward onto the table, propped onto her elbows. She hasn’t the first clue how this game works, but she always enjoys watching them play, especially seeing Ben’s inner nerd lain bare.

Poe leans back in his chair, draping his arm over the back of it.

“So, Rey, how are ya?” he flashes her a boyish smile, then clocks the jacket hanging neatly behind her. “Sweet jacket! Where did you, uh, get that?”

Rey smiles straight back, “I’m good, thanks! Ben got it for me, it’s cool isn’t it?”.

She twists her head to scrunch her nose at him, but Ben is staring straight at Poe, his face intense like he is trying to communicate something important to him via telepathy.

Rey’s brow furrows slightly and she returns to look at the others.

Hux is smirking so hard it looks as though his face could split in half. “What a wonderfully _remarkable_ gift”, he purrs.

Rey begins to speak but Ben interjects and her head snaps toward him, “I thought it would be… distinguishable”, he says in a soft, low tone.

Rey is confused.

That wasn’t exactly new with this lot, though.

There is a sudden shift from Rose’s direction as she hurriedly pours herself another drink and clears her throat.

“So, anyway, Rey, how was your evening?”, she asks casually.

“It was good! We had loads of fun, I even got free drinks out of the bartender”, she flicks her chestnut hair over her shoulder in a flirty manner.

Poe mockingly knocks his fist against the top of the table and a little of his beer splashes onto the smooth wooden surface. “Is this a joke? Never once have I got free drinks in that place, am I not _pretty_ enough for them?!”

They are all giggling then, and Rey manages to wheeze out, “don’t worry Princess, I’m pretty sure he thought I was famous or something, he called me ‘Mrs Ren’”.

Ben _chokes_ on his whiskey.

Poe jumps up in a jolt and begins to pat him roughly on the back as he splutters uncontrollably.

Hux folds his arms across his chest and stares at Ben exultantly.

Rose plants her face against the table and lets out a very loud groan of despair.

Poe continues to rub circles on Ben’s back as he hacks the last of the whiskey out of his lungs.

“There you go, you okay there, big guy? Something give you a little _surprise_?”, he coos.

Ben waves him away irately.

Rose suddenly darts straight back into sitting upright, a triumphant look on her small round face. “Well I think that’s time to call it a night, what do you say Ben”?

He nods enthusiastically, still expelling wheezy coughs.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

A few days pass and Rey is as oblivious as ever to the way people look at her when she passes. The way they cross the street when she approaches.

She is back in her favourite haunt with Finn, another round of free drinks washing away the worries of the day.

She is venting about her arsehole boss when Finn interrupts her.

“Rey, the Kn- they keep looking at you”, he whispers.

Her head whips round to the direction in which he jerks his thumb in and she is more than a little surprised to see Rose, Poe and Hux sat at a table on the other side of the bar. How long had they been sitting there? She hadn’t even noticed them come in. Were they here before she and Finn were?

Rose’s eyes meet Rey’s and they exchange a little wave to one another.

“What are you _doing_?”, Finn hisses, grabbing the sleeve of her denim jacket and yanking her arm back down to the table.

“Firstly, _ow_ ”, Rey howls back, rubbing her bicep where he had grabbed her. “What’s your problem? They’re friends of Ben!”.

Finn’s mouth falls open and he begins to stammer and squeak in place of coherent words. He takes a sharp breath and mumbles hurriedly, “Rey, those people are the _Knights of Ren_ ”.

Rey squints at him, puzzled. “Is that like a DnD thing?”.

He returns her look of puzzlement tenfold. “What?! No, they’re a _gang_ ”.

Rey snickers and dramatically raises her eyebrows at him in mockery. “Ben’s friends are not in a _gang_. They’re the biggest bunch of nerds I have ever seen. Literally the biggest in Ben’s case”.

Finn’s eyes are darting between her and the trio as though they’re a venomous snake that could strike at any moment. She follows his gaze to see that Rose too, is looking very agitated over something. She has probably noticed Finn staring at her. 

In an effort to distract Finn, she resumes in bitching about her boss.

Eventually, he seems to relax slightly and just as he begins to respond to her his eyes lock on to something over her shoulder, scowling in its direction.

Then she hears a stranger’s sleek voice in her ear.

“Well, hello there, beautiful”, it drawls.

Rey twists sideways in her seat, peering up at the smug face smirking back at her.

“Er- yes, can I help you?” she asks cautiously.

“Maybe we can help each other, honey”, he winks at her, “what’s your name? Bet it’s pretty”.

Bile rises to the back of Rey’s throat.

She is preparing to spit it out in the form of some colourful words when Rose’s grinning face appears as if from nowhere at the man’s side.

“Hi, Rey!” she chirps, sweeter than sugar.

The man, easily a foot taller than Rose, looks down at her and the colour drains from his face. He recoils from her like she is made of knives.

She smiles up at his snow-white face and stares him dead in the eyes, not breaking her gaze until he falls to his knees to crouch at Rey’s side.

He grabs the hand resting in her lap and stares into her eyes, a look of sheer terror within them that she is beginning to become accustomed to seeing.

“Please forgive me, I meant no offense”, he murmurs.

Rey spitefully pulls her hand away and stares him down. “I think you should go”, she utters.

He nods in agreement and practically _runs_ through the crowd and out of the bar. Rey watches him until he disappears from her sight.

Slowly, Rey looks back to Rose who still has the same sweet smile glued to her face. Her voice wavers. “Thanks for the intercept, there”.

In response, Rose’s smile widens. “Oh, it was my _pleasure_ ”. She turns to Finn and extends her hand to him. “Hi there, I’m Rose”.

He flinches as though he had been hoping that if he stayed silent and still enough, she wouldn’t be able to see him.

Finn guardedly extends his own hand and quietly offers his own name as she shakes it enthusiastically before turning back to look at Rey.

“See you Thursday night?”, she asks politely. Her voice is a little higher than usual, Rey notices.

“Sure”, Rey answers, and both she and Finn watch Rose float back to her table.

Poe greets her with a celebratory cheer and a high five while Hux sits with his face in his hands, shaking his head.

“I’m starting to think you might have a point…”, Rey mutters to Finn, still staring at the strange trio.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Rey gets home before Ben that night. She is curled up in a ball on the couch watching her favourite crime show when he she hears the latch on the door, followed by his obnoxiously large frame breezing into the living room.

“Evening”, he flashes her a crooked smile and she can’t help but return it, her cheeks burning a little.

Is this overgrown dork _really_ some sort of legendary gangster?!

Ben begins to shuffle around the open kitchen, grabbing a cold beer from the fridge and leaning against the granite countertop as he takes the first large swig. He catches Rey watching him intently.

She pushes up from the sofa and drags her feet slowly to him. It is the most self-conscious she has ever felt as she feels his eyes burning into her as she approaches.

She stops a few feet in front of him and peeks up at him through her eyelashes.

“Can I talk to you about something?”, she asks, barely audible if not for the fact she has every ounce of his focus on her.

Ben swallows hard and exhales slowly. Finally, he replies, “yes”.

Rey hadn’t thought this far. She starts to blush scarlet and nervously fiddles with a loose thread on the oversized jumper that she is sporting.

Better out than in, she resigns.

“Are you in a gang?”, she blurts.

The hollow under Ben’s eye twitches.

He slowly puts the bottle on the countertop, his face hardly changes as his dark eyes bore into her.

“Yes”.

She folds her arms across her chest and gives him a look that very clearly demands further explanation.

Ben shuffles his weight uncomfortably and runs his fingers through his thick, lustrous hair.

And then he can’t stop the words from flowing.

He tells her everything.

About the gang.

About the jacket and his will that it would keep her safe.

Snippets of the last few weeks blaze back into Rey’s brain.

The way people have treated her.

The way they’ve treated her so… carefully. Respectfully.

She is dragged back to the moment by Ben’s shy voice.

“I will understand. If you feel you need to… find somewhere else to live. And you can get rid of the jacket, I’m s-“.

He is stifled by Rey who throws herself into his arms, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist and crashing her lips into his.

She breaks away from his face for the briefest of seconds and he lets out a small involuntary whimper at the sudden lack of contact.

“I think I’ll keep it”, she whispers.

And kisses him again.


End file.
